Program Assessment User Session Experts (PAUSE)

Subscription Services: RSS and Email Subscription Services

October 3-5, 2006

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Your Hosts

• Joe Peters, ITS JPO• Brian Philips, Mitretek Systems• Rob Maccubbin, Mitretek Systems• Jeff Trombly, SAIC• Juan Noltenius, SAIC• Matthew Rohrbach, Volpe Center/Cambridge Systematics

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Agenda

• Agenda and Introductions 1:00

• Background Questionnaire Review 1:15

• RSS and Email Subscription Services 1:20

• Subscribing to RSS Feeds (a live demo / discussion) 2:00

• Subscribing to E-mail Service (a live demo / discussion) 2:10

• Subscription Services Testing and Wrap-up 2:20

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PAUSE Participants – Fall 2006Group 1 – October 3rd Group 2 – October 4th Group 3 – October 5th 1. Thomas Kane Des Moines Area

MPO2. Doug Ito San Joaquin Council of

Governments3. David Crout TriMet4. Susan Slye FHWA5. Tom Stout FHWA6. Alan Hansen FHWA Arizona

Division Office7. Mac Lister FHWA - National

Resource Center - Olympia Field8. Amy Polk Cairo Corporation9. Bill Rouck Cairo Corporation10. William Anderson ITS America11. Shelley Row ITE12. Ron Herrington Lexington-Fayette

Co.13. Michelle Birdsall Institute of

Transportation Engineers14. Patrick McGowan Telvent

Farradyne Inc.15. Marianna Rizzo FHWA Office of

Operations16. Harry Crump FHWA Office of

Operations

1. Peggy Tadej NARC2. Steve Fern Suburban Mobility Authority

for Regional Transportation (SMART)3. Kevin McGinnis National Association of

State EMS Officials4. Marshall Elizer National Association of

State EMS Officials5. Robert Ferlis FHWA6. Margaret Petrella Volpe Center7. Stephen Clinger FHWA8. Chris Cluett BATTELLE9. Michael Harris Parsons Brinckerhoff10. Phil Shapiro BMISG11. Kenny Voorhies Cambridge

Systematics12. Jaime Kopf TRAC Research Engineer13. Galen Mcgill Oregon DOT14. Deryl Mayhew UDOT- Traffic

Operation Center15. Joe Foster District of Columbia DOT16. Skip Yeakel Volvo Trucks North

America17. Michael Curran Inside ITS18. Bernie Wagenblast Shadow Traffic

Metro Networks19. Quon Kwan FMCSA20. Steve Austin Emergency Responder

Safety Institute

1. Dave Kristick E-470 Public Highway Authority

2. Alan King Lochner3. Jesse Glazer FHWA/FTA Metro

Office4. Emiliano Lopez FHWA5. Ray Murphy FHWA6. Carol Zimmerman BATTELLE7. Jim Barbaresso Odetics8. John Hibbard PBS&J9. Ed McCormack Washington

State Transportation Center, University of Washington

10. John Ishimaru University of Washington

11. Mike Akridge Florida DOT12. Sheryl Wilkerson YGOMI LLC13. Marty Lege’ North Texas Tollway

Authority14. Matt Burt Battelle

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How Frequently Returning PAUSE Members Use KR Websites

n = 14 responses

Frequency of Use of ITSJPO Knowledge Resource Websites

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Never Seldom Monthly Weekly Daily

Frequency of Use

Num

ber o

f Peo

ple

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Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results

n = 44 responses

Familiarity with RSS (Real Simple Syndication)

Yes57%

No20%

Not sure23%

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Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results

n = 44 responses

Familiarity with Email Subscription Services

Yes82%

No18%

Not sure0%

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Any questions about the homework?

Background Questionnaire Survey - Part 1 Results

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Subscription Services – Covered Topics

• Need for Subscription Services• Overview of RSS – RSS and Knowledge Resources

– What is RSS?, Benefits / Limitations, and How RSS works• Demo of RSS• What is the Email Subscription Service?

– What is it?, Benefits / Limitations, and How the Email Subscription Service works

• Joe Subscribes to RSS Feeds (a live demo / discussion)• Joe Subscribes to E-mail Service (a live demo / discussion) • Introduce concept of testing the Subscription Services• Ask for participation in testing• Survey

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Background on Need for Subscription Services

• Diversity and breadth of knowledge

• Applications Overview – 16 categories >> 176 specific applications (see http://www.itsoverview.its.dot.gov/)

• Lessons Learned – 9 Lesson Categories >> 45 categories (see http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/)

• States – see information by the 50 states (see http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/its/benecost.nsf/LessonStateHome)

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Background on Need for Subscription Services

• Applications Overview – 16 categories >> 176 specific applications (see http://www.itsoverview.its.dot.gov/)

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Background on Need for Subscription Services

• Lessons Learned – 9 Lesson Categories >> 45 sub-categories (see http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/)

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Background on Need for Subscription Services

• States – show information by the 50 states (see http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov/its/benecost.nsf/LessonStateHome)

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An Overview of RSS – RSS and Knowledge Resources

• RSS allows you to receive selected "news items", such as:

– "What's new" in Knowledge Resources (e.g., Costs, Benefits and Lessons Learned KRs)

– ITS-related news items from Bernie Wagenblast's Transportation Communication Newsletter

– Application Area news items (e.g., Arterial Management > Traffic Control)

– Lesson Category news items (e.g., Design and Deployment > System Design)

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An Overview of RSS – What is RSS?

• RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” (but can also stand for “Rich Site Summary”, or “RDF Site Summary”)

• Works as an automated way to see "What's New" on a Web site– Requires a sender (manual or automated) and a subscriber

• Also used as a method for distributing headline content and data between sites

• Commonly used for news items and web log (“Blog”)

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An Overview of RSS – Benefits and Limitations of RSS

• Benefits

– Users can create customized news feeds that show only topics of individual interest

– When this is performed for many sites, a customized view of information from many sources is aggregated in one place

– This can save time over accessing many sites daily in order to discover new items

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An Overview of RSS – Benefits and Limitations of RSS

• Limitations

– 82% in a recent survey did not know what RSS was*

– Requires work to set up the RSS reader

– Requires work to identify sites to get news items from

* http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115075895691584597-J7Zkgfyy0QteJpjOz_Obi7mmUH0_20060627.html?mod=blogs – Lee Gomes of Wall Street Journal

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An Overview of RSS – How RSS Works

• Originating site creates an RSS “feed” or “channel,” which is an XML file accessed by a standard URL. – An RSS file consists of a list of items, each of which contains a title,

description and a link to a web page– Date information

• Users instruct their RSS tool to “subscribe” to the feed. – Tool automatically accesses and downloads new file(s) for each

subscription and parses them to show summary and headline information in a convenient, easily viewed format.

– User can then access more detail by navigating to content source from the RSS tool

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New Washington Post

Technology Channel Story

RSS – Washington Post Technology source

Channel =

WashingtonPost.com –

Technology

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RSS – Transportation Communications Newsletter source

Channel = Intelligent

Infrastructure – Arterial

Management Systems – Traffic

Control

New TCN news story

for Traffic Control

application area channel

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RSS – Lessons Learned Knowledge Resource source

Channel = Intelligent

Infrastructure – Arterial

Management Systems – Traffic

Control

New Lessons Learned entry

for Traffic Control

application area channel

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Summary of Differences between RSS and Applications Overview

• Only new items• Tailored to your interests

regarding the types of ITS information you receive

• Links to some stories may expire over time

• Accessed through an RSS reader and browser

Applications Overview RSS• Archival• Searchable, for all information,

not just new information• Accessed via browser

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RSS – Experiences Using It?

• Has anyone used RSS?

• Anyone want to share their experiences (good or bad)?

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An Overview of the Email Subscription Service – What is it?

• Email Subscription Service is a method to distribute targeted and timely information to a subscriber using ordinary email– Subscriber selects subject and frequency of email receipt

• Uses any email account– No need to install specialized software– No need to establish new email account

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An Overview of Email Subscription Service – How does it work?

• Subscriber accesses webpage that describes the process for signing up to receive email

– User provides email address and selects topic or topics of interest– User specifies frequency of email receipt (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly.)

• Emails sent to address provided by user according to user specified schedule

– User may modify or cancel email receipt at any time

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An Overview of Email Subscription Service – Benefits and Limitations

• Benefits– Subscribers automatically receive information via email– Information may be compiled from several sources and consolidated into

a single email– This can save time over accessing many sites daily in order to discover

new items

• Limitations– Email could be considered spam– User can be overwhelmed by amount of email received (independent of

this service) and the emails from this service could get lost in email in-box

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Summary of Differences between RSS and Applications Overview

• Only new items• Tailored to your interests

regarding the types of ITS information you receive

• Links to some stories may expire over time

• Accessed through an RSS reader and browser

Applications Overview RSS• Archival• Searchable, for all information,

not just new information• Accessed via browser

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Summary of Differences between Email Subscription Service and Applications Overview

• Only new items• Tailored to your interests

regarding the types of ITS information you receive

• Links to some stories may expire over time

• Accessed through email system and browser

Applications Overview Email Subscription Service

• Archival• Searchable, for all information,

not just new information• Accessed via browser

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Thoughts on RSS or Email Subscription Service?

• Thoughts or feedback on RSS or Email Subscription Service

• Any questions?

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Subscribing to RSS Feeds & Email Subscription Service

• Subscribing to RSS Feeds (a live demo / discussion)

• Subscribing to Email Subscription Service (a live demo / discussion)

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Testing of Subscription Services

• The results would then be used to modify and enhance the RSS and Email subscription service prototypes to better suit users’ needs.

• Participants can subscribe to either the RSS or Email Subscription Service, or both.

• Participants will be given a tutorial on RSS and/or Email Subscription Service to help them get set up RSS or ESS and participate in the testing

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Testing of Subscription Services

• Results used to modify and enhance RSS and Email subscription service prototypes to better suit Users’ needs.

• Participants can subscribe to either the RSS or Email Subscription Service, or both.

• Participants will be given a an overview and instructions on RSS and/or Email Subscription Service to help them get set up RSS or ESS and participate in the testing.

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Testing of Subscription Services – Process

Steps involved in helping to test the RSS and Email subscription services:

1. Indicate your interest in participating in testing the RSS or the Email subscription service, or both.

2. Receive email from Volpe on participation details3. Install RSS reader software / subscribe to channels, and/or

subscribe to email service.4. Use RSS and/or Email subscription service.5. Record comments on your usage in electronic journal.6. Complete two on-line surveys.7. Receive our thanks for participating, and a summary presentation

on RSS and Email subscription service.

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Background Questionnaire - Part 2

Please fill out this questionnaire. 7 minutes

Questionnaire link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=756132568151

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Thoughts, Questions, or Comments?

• Additional thoughts on RSS?

• Additional thoughts on the Email Subscription Service?

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Next Meeting Dates

• Next meetings: Tuesday October 17 & Wednesday October 18

• Information sessions on testing RSS & Email Subscription Services– Question and Answer sessions– Answer questions on the procedures and technical issues with

using the Subscription Services– Strictly optional